I started to get mild myopia when I was 12 or so, but it was managable until lately, the last 3 years or so, that I’ve needed glasses. And… my eyes are getting worse quite quickly… I went from being able to see well without glasses, to fine with them, to not so great with them in a period of 3 years or so.
I also stare at a computer monitor for quite a few hours a day.
Could this be the cause?
Not likely. Staring at the monitor can have temporary effects (which is why it’s a good idea to take breaks), but isn’t likely to induce myopia. (There are some who think it may cause cataracts, but that’s a different story.)
I’ve had times where my eyesight suddenly deteriorated very quickly, then it’d level out. Probably has something to do with growth.
I was wondering if focusing on things that were close 80% of the time you were awake (between reading, looking at a monitor, watching tv, most daily tasks, etc), your eyes’ ability to focus on far distances might’ve atrophied.
No. Myopia is caused by genetics, and it is typically progressive for years, even decades, before it levels off. Of course, then you get presbyopia and that’s when the fun really starts. Then you can’t see far away OR close up.
Is myopia the same as general ‘short-sightedness’? Because I was always under the impression that short-sightedness could be caused by such things as staring at monitors etc…
For example, my mother used to be long-sighted, but then took a job as a secretary, which involved a lot of word-processing and therefore lots of staring at a monitor… after a few years of this, she discovered that her glasses were not as effective, and went to the optician/optometrist, and discovered she was now short-sighted…
I am severely myopic, so is my father, so I am sure it’s inherited.
Interestingly we’re both right-handed, but my mother and brother, who have perfect vision, are left-handed.
My vision is still getting worse, even in my mid-twenties.
I do think that it can be exacerbated by extensive close work an monitor use. However I imagine that this eye-strain is reversible. I believe there are exercises you can do that are supposed to relax and improve your vision. My totally uninformed WAG would be that such exercises might help towards improving externally-physically-exacerbated myopia, but not to the inherited kind.
Also interesting is that my optician told me that the most short-sighted/myopic guy he ever treated (who was nearly qualified as partially sighted/vision impaired disabled he was so myopic) was a shepherd, whose entire work involved long-range vision.
I’ve been very near-sighted (myopic) all my life. I work a lot with computers (and then come home and waste time on one!). In the last 5 years my myopia has started to reverse and become less severe. Unfortunately, I’ll have to live to be 512 before achieving 20/20, but still, it’s a nice change.
<taking off my eyeglasses> Near sightedness is caused by masturbation so now I know what you’ve all been doing all these years you perverts!
According to research at Cornell there is a strong possibility the myopia is environmental.
Essentially, literacy makes us nearsighted. Illiterates have much better vision (though they do not see).
I’ve been told that as I approach the big four oh that my seeing difficulty is caused by a hardening of the lens that happens to just about everyone and it makes it more work to focus.
Could that be the source of my headaches? I’m thinking my eyes are starting to get worse-unfortunately, I can’t afford new glasses right now.
Where might I find information about excercises to relieve myopia?
Don’t waste your time. Myopia is caused when the focus point is in front of the retina either by a too long eyeball or a too convexed cornea. Anyhow, the ratio is not right for correct focus. Your eye does have some muscles, but I don’t see how they can correct that. You didn’t say how old you are. As you get less young;), your cornea flattens out a little, resulting in less myopia if you are myopic. In fact, if you are only slightly myopic, there will be a time when you will have 20/20 eyesight, but only for a short time until you become hyperopic.
Not quite. Not a hardening of the lens but the inability of the lens and its attachments (ligaments, cartilage) to adapt and refocus on near items. I guess, in a way, that’s a hardening.
The environmental link is interesting. I think that needs further study as it is contra to mainstream knowledge, that it is hereditary. I’ve read that reading or other close work does not permanently damage or affect the eye. As noted, it is a good idea to re-focus occasionally to relieve the strain.
It is accepted without doubt that environmental factors play a big part in shortsightedness (from a friend that is an eye surgeon), however there is a genetic disposition. This is backed up by every website and book I have flicked through. For instance, the rate of myopia has doubled in Singaporean school children between 1966 and today (http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:dctpq4bx1ZwC:news.ninemsn.com.au/health/story_19455.asp+myopia+environmental+factors&hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1)
which obviously cannot be genetic in origin.
Myopia is not caused by weak eye muscles, it is caused (amongst other things) by a weakening of the ligaments that normally stretch the lens.
Looking at close objects means that the muscle surrounding the lens contracts making the lens ‘fatter’ and hence focuses on the closer object.
One cause of myopia is reading in low-light conditions. Even if you think it is light enough to read, you may be straining your eyes, and hence stretching the ligaments. If the ligaments become overstretched, they cannot stretch out the lens as well as before, and hence distant objects appear blurred. However, reading a monitor, which emits its own light, should not affect y
that should be ‘should not affect your vision in that way’. Pressed TAB accidentally. :rolleyes:
Your link does not state that environmental factors are “accepted without doubt.” In fact, it states that there is much doubt and more study is needed. They are really at a loss to explain the increased myopia. Just to quote part of it:
That, if true, would affect the ability of the lens to accommodate, which is what happens when you age, but would not affect your normal or far vision.
Presumably yes, but I would argue that it mostly prevents the lens from stretching out enough. If the ligaments are not stretching out the lens enough, you will not be able to see distant objects as well, as the lens must be THIN in order to refract less, and hence see distant objects. However, I am pretty sure this is not myopia, but just a form of short sightedness.
nukeman - are you saying there are no environmental factors? I don’t know what your position is. A discussion of myopia (I don’t have the expertise to determine how biased it is) can be found here http://www.i-see.org/prevent_myopia.html including this study which is widely quoted elsewhere as well
“Several studies have shown that for at least one population, the natives of the Arctic region, myopia does not come from the parents. Francis Young et al. (1969) made a study in Barrow, Alaska, of 283 Eskimo children (6 to 25 years) and 225 adults (26 to 88 years). The sample contained family groups of parents and grandparents. The children had all gone to school, while the parents had lived a traditional Eskimo life. While less than 2% of the parents were myopic, approximately 58% of the children were myopic, and the severity of the myopia increased with number of years in school. There was no significant correlation between the parents’ refraction and the refraction of the children”